F. Hockey downs Golden Rams

With a 3-2 victory last night, the Quakers now own their first winning streak of the year. "Is that our first bit of luck this year, Brooke?" Penn field hockey coach Val Cloud asked senior defender Brooke Jenkins. Jenkins, resting on the crutches she uses to support herself after tearing her ACL, thought for a moment. "Yeah," she said. Unlike last Saturday's bittersweet 3-2 win at Yale, nothing went wrong for the Penn field hockey team during last night's 3-2 triumph over West Chester. Saturday, the joy following the Quakers' first Ivy win of the season was cut short when leading scorer and co-captain Leah Bills, who had scored all three of Penn's goals, ruptured her Achilles tendon while celebrating the victory. Last night, however, the Quakers could finally revel without worry in a job well done, as freshman midfielder Kylee Jakobowski tallied two goals and senior goalkeeper Alison Friedman made five saves. The win was Penn's fifth of the season and it gave the Quakers their first winning streak this year. The Red and Blue (5-11) will try to end the century on a three-game winning streak when they face Princeton in their season finale tomorrow night at Franklin Field. Penn, while hardly dominant, never trailed the Golden Rams in a contest that was played a day later than originally scheduled. The torrential downpour that moved Tuesday's contest at West Chester to Franklin Field last night was replaced instead by a numbing cold. The Quakers were up 1-0 in their impromptu home game when West Chester struck two minutes into the second half to tie it, as a series of exceptional criss-crossing passes off a corner opportunity resulted in Marisa Mitchell's goal. But the Quakers regained the lead one minute later as Jakobowski scored her second goal of the game off a corner, deflecting freshman midfielder Mandy Doherty's shot into the net. "It was nice to capitalize on corners, [to] get those corners in," Jakobowski said, referring to one of the areas on which Penn has worked most of the year to improve. The goal and the regaining of the lead seemed to lift Penn's spirits, as the Quakers controlled play for the next several minutes. Conversely, the Golden Rams, who fell to 7-11 on the year, appeared bothered throughout the entire game. Their passing was not crisp and they had trouble getting the ball into the offensive circle when they needed to. "We're a grass team," West Chester coach Kathy Krannebitter said. "We've been all grass for the past three weeks. Having not had the opportunity to prepare for a turf game? had a big effect on our play tonight." The match was marked early on by back-and-forth play, as both teams traded offensive attacks that resulted in few quality scoring chances. But with a little under 12 minutes left in the first half, Penn was presented with its first corner opportunity, and while the Quakers weren't able to capitalize, they were awarded another corner on the ensuing play. The Red and Blue, as they rarely have done this season, took advantage of this second chance. Off the corner, senior forward Courtney Martin deflected the ball to Jakobowski, who put it in the back of the net for her first of the night. The goal came with 11:12 to go in the half and gave Penn a 1-0 lead. Martin was credited with the assist. With 22:14 left in the second half and the Quakers holding a 2-1 lead, forward Maureen Flynn essentially put the game away, beating West Chester goalkeeper Joelle Maguire for her fifth goal of the season. West Chester added a goal with 19:33 left, as a shot off midfielder Charlene Bailey's stick trickled into the net to cut the Quakers' lead to one. "I wasn't happy with the way West Chester came back with the goal," Cloud said. "The goals we gave up weren't good goals." But the Golden Rams would only come close once more, getting a corner opportunity with two minutes to go in the game. Luckily for Penn, they did not convert on this chance. With this win behind them, the Quakers have just one game remaining on the schedule. Beating Yale and West Chester, however, gives Penn's record a bit more respectability before tomorrow's meeting with Princeton. "It's nice to have five wins," Cloud said. "Less than a week ago we only had three."